Superior Stone and Aggregate, LLC, a Michigan limited liability corporation, has developed targeted sales and distribution opportunities to market the crushed basalt rock, also more commonly known as stamp sand, that is stockpiled at the Gay, Michigan Buffalo Reef location on the shores of Lake Superior.

The Buffalo Reef Task Force has recently evaluated methods to remediate the stamp sand location and restore the adjacent shoreline.  Superior Stone & Aggregate can assist this effort through private sector, and bulk aggregate sales. Superior presented to key road builders and State of Michigan transportation leaders current research conducted by T. Van Dam Ph.D., describing stamp sand as a high performing aggregate contributing to the longevity of road sections lasting over 60 years with relatively little maintenance.     

Superior Stone & Aggregate is coordinating with key industry and governmental counterparts to beneficially re-use stamp sand as a state approved, road building aggregate.  Transportation departments in Michigan (MDOT) and Illinois (IDOT) approved stamp sand as a fine aggregate for use on state funded, roadway projects. Additionally, University-directed research by Michigan Tech University, federally-funded Environmental Protection Agency studies, proprietary mix design testing and field usage have all verified stamp sand aggregate as a valuable/versatile road building material for the Great Lakes region. 

Superior Stone & Aggregate is collaborating with leading asphalt producers and road builders familiar with stamp sand’s ideal physical and chemical characteristics to produce higher performing, longer lasting roadways for Michigan residence. These firms are eager to add stamp sand to material inventories and integrate it into existing asphalt mix designs. Utilizing public funding (Buffalo Reef Task Force, MDOT, EPA) to offset transportation and processing costs, Superior Stone & Aggregate can meet market pricing, bring to market +2 million tons of aggregate and mitigate projected tightening supply in Southeast Michigan. 

Superior Stone & Aggregate projects initial yearly sales volumes of +200,000 tons increasing to +500,000 tons annually by Year 3. Current market pricing for competing road base and asphalt mix design aggregate is: $10 – $14/ton based on volume (Southeast Michigan region).  Our team has also detailed a light processing plant design located at the Gay, Michigan site together with trucking, dockage, shipping and documentation methods for the production and distribution of stamp sand aggregate into the Michigan and Illinois building markets. We estimate production to begin in the 4th Quarter of 2020 or 1st Quarter of 2021.